


Opposites Attract

by orphan_account



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25842166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: April Ludgate has just dropped out of college and needs a place to stay. She moves in with fellow drop-out Andy Dwyer, which is lucky for her in more ways than she could tell...A College Dropouts/Roommate AU. I've seen so many high school/college AUs and never saw this so I decided to create it.
Relationships: Andy Dwyer/April Ludgate
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	1. One

April had always hated basically everything in life, but she was currently more down on herself than usual. Just a year prior, she accepted into a college in Indianapolis and could finally get away from stupid Pawnee. Now, she was homeless, friendless, and back in the town she had despised so deeply. She hated the fact that her dad had gotten fired and was unable to put her through college. She hated how expensive the student loans were. She hated that she had to leave the few cool people she ever knew to go back to the worst town in America. Her parents didn't even take her back into their household. _The money's too tight_ , she remembers her mother saying. They had even considered selling the house, but decided to wait and see if they could fix the immediate problems. April didn't want to move in with some stranger, but she knew this was her last resort. _Male, 22 years old_ , the piece of paper said. _56 Greenwood Street_. April just groaned and kept kicking dirt as she walked. She wasn't ready to move in with someone, but she wasn't allowed to spend another night at her parents'. So she was moving into the apartment today. And she was not looking forward to it. 

She arrived at the place and was greeted by two raccoons fighting over some fast food. April just sighed and walked up to the door. This was not the best part of town, and she was not interested in getting mugged. She rang the doorbell and waited a few seconds before hearing a loud crashing. _That can't be good_. The door swung open suddenly and she found herself looking at a young man with mussy hair and a scratchy beard. Although she kicked herself for it, the first thing she noticed about him was how handsome he was. He was wearing a t-shirt of something called a Mouse Rat, and it clung to him in all the right places. His arms were big and muscular, and his forearms bulged out. She couldn't help but stare a little, no matter how embarrassing it was. In her defense, Pawnee was not home to very many good-looking guys, so when she saw one it took her by surprise. 

"Hey!" the man half-shouted with a weird joy in his voice. _Why are you happy?_ was all April could think to herself. Meeting new people, in her experience at least, sucked. "Are you, uh, the girl from the thing?"

"I'm the girl who's moving in," April said with a forceful tint of boredom. 

"Awesome," he replied, a wide grin on his face. "Come in, I'll show you around this place." April stepped in and saw piles of garbage, clothes, and pizza boxes. Her eyes grew wide at the sight. Even at her dorm room back in Indianapolis, she had never seen something so messy. "So, yeah, the place could use a little bit of cleaning," he muttered as he scratched his beard. 

"You think?" she asked sarcastically, though she didn't use a very mean tone and was surprised with herself. "I'm not gonna lie though, I kind of like the craziness."

"Really?" His face had a big grin again. "I'm Andy, by the way. Dwyer." He stood there and just looked at her. "And you're..."

"April Ludgate," she answered. 

"Cool. Nice to meet you." Andy extended his hand. April never shook hands with anyone, but decided to now because the situation seemed appropriate. At least, that's what she told herself, and definitely not because she didn't hate Andy yet, because she _totally_ did. "Alright, you can take that room -" Andy gestured to the back. "- or you could take mine. But then I'd have to move the bag of smells and I don't want to affect the results of that experiment."

"What's the bag of - never mind. Yeah, I'll take the room in the back," she said and threw her backpack into the bedroom. She didn't care; there weren't any breakables. It was basically just clothes. As a matter of fact, it was entirely clothes. There wasn't much else she wanted. She unpacked it all and threw it on top of the bureau that was in there. She would put it away eventually. Right now, the only thing April wanted to do was collapse on the couch and watch TV. 

It was later that night, and Andy had joined her on the couch. They were watching _Supernatural_ (April's choice; creepy shows were the best shows), and he was sitting there with a very confused look on her face. She knew he didn't understand any of it, and had to laugh when he pretended to. 

"So, why did you come here?" Andy asked, interrupting the silence that April loved. "I mean, I know it's like, a personified question and all -" _Personified? This guy is a giant goofball._ "- but, you seem super smart and stuff and I'm surprised you are staying here." April had already come to terms with what had happened, and Andy seemed nice enough. 

"I dropped out of college," she replied. A shocked look spread across his face and April immediately wondered if she had made a mistake in telling him. However, before she could get too embarrassed, Andy grew a wild grin. 

"Shut up! Me too!" he shouted, jumping out of his seat with joy. Now it was April's turn to be shocked. Andy and college was not a connection she would make.

"How?" she wondered aloud.

"I got a football scholarship to Indiana, but my grades were grades were so bad I had to drop out!" Andy was practically exploding with joy. Who smiles while talking about dropping out of college? "Dude, this is so awesome," he yelled, stretching his hand out for a high five. April took it, before shaking her head. _You never take high fives_ , she thought to herself. _Why are you being weird around this guy?_

Well, April wouldn't find out for a little while, but once she did, it all made sense. 


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Bruins-Hurricanes game is not happening, so I'm on a writing spree. If you're reading this, it probably means you saw my shameless plug from You Have No Idea What Cute Means. If not, check it out on my profile. 
> 
> I doubt anyone's reading this, but if anyone does, I think I'll finish it despite the zero hits.

Finding a job, as it turned out, wasn't too difficult for April. She was hired as an assistant to the local butcher, a guy named Ron who was actually pretty cool. He was stoic, not especially caring (that was April's impression, at least), and let her text and ignore life. It was her job to ensure people didn't complain to her boss. April loved animals, but didn't really care if this guy slaughtered pigs. Pigs were gross, and it was dogs and cats she loved anyways. Besides, it meant she could have the rent money to stay in the apartment with Andy, who was someone she definitely didn't hate. 

Andy worked for this Chris Traeger guy, who she kinda suspected he had a crush on. (She mentioned this once, but Andy just laughed. She still suspects he doesn't know when she's joking.) In all seriousness, between their two jobs, they had enough money for the bills and their jobs, though Chris had to come over to the apartment to show them how to open up a bank account. She didn't spend much time around the place, not because of work, but because she was busy trying to figure out how to get her parents out of their financial trouble. She spent time at their house more and more often, picking stuff to sell. It was frustrating, and she would come home and groan loudly before collapsing on the couch. Andy just gave her sympathy, which she usually would've hated, but there was something about Andy that was so unhatable. 

It was a sticky Friday night, and April really didn't want to go pick stuff from her childhood to sell in order to keep her parents afloat. She just wanted to lie on the couch, watch that crappy _Community_ show that Andy liked, (April noticed the crazy similarities between him and that Troy guy) and doze off to the noise of that annoying pop culture nerd. Instead, something much better happened.

"Not going to your parents' tonight?" Andy asked her as he flopped down on the couch with exhaustion. 

"Nope," she replied sullenly. 

"Cool," he said. "I like it way better when you hang around here anyways."

"Why?" she wondered to him. As a result of her mean-spiritedness, usually people wanted to spend _less_ time around her, not more. 

"Uh, because you're like the coolest person ever," he said like it was the obvious thing in the world. April made a face and Andy noticed. "Seriously. You're super smart and awesome." April felt her cheeks flush a little. No one had ever complimented her this way before. 

"You're not terrible, I guess," she mumbled, staring at Joel McHale in order to avoid further embarrassment. She should be mad that Andy was making her feel this way, but instead she felt...kind of happy?

"That is the nicest thing I've ever heard you say." A wide grin spread across his face. "Thanks." There was some silence for a little while longer, before April decided to interrupt it. 

"Thank you for letting me stay here," she said softly. 

"Hey, it's no problem. Like I said before, you're pretty awesome. Although I am pretty disappointed you don't like _Community_."

"Dude, _Community_ is soooo lame! How can you like it?" she replied, a smile creeping onto her face. 

"Because it's funny!" he yelled back, still grinning. "And Chevy Chase is a total hero of mine. At least it isn't super weird, like those creepy German shows you illegally download."

"Those are amazing! How dare you insult them?"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"I'd rather watch anything, even _Supernatural_ , than that stuff."

"Maybe you just don't understand how genius it is," she responded smugly. Throughout the rest of the night, April was drowned in shared laughter and a rare feeling that sent her to be bed happy for the first time in forever. 

Andy Dwyer was already the greatest thing to happen to her in a while, but she didn't even know how important he would become. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I do not share April's opinions about Community.)


	3. Three

As April lied in bed at absurd-o-clock in the pitch darkness, Andy and everyone else in the free world surely asleep, she was still wondering. Wondering so much her brain hurt. And the wondering stemmed from an odd fleeting sensation in her stomach. She would begin to drift off, finally, before picturing her roommate and getting that ultra-weird feeling again, causing her to jerk herself back awake. _Why?_ she asked herself. _Why him?_ Whenever she would start to think about her job, the fleeting would die down and her heart rate would go back to normal. But then she would see Andy randomly, just standing there with the sun shining on him, and the sensation would roar back to life. She didn't know why. No one had ever made her feel this way before. None of her friends could, her boyfriends definitely couldn't, and somehow the roommate she's had for a month is able to? It didn't make sense. None of it made sense. 

That is, until she finally realized a half hour later. 

She was still lying in bed and wondering with frustration when she thought of one haunting possibility: _Do you like him?_ It sounded so high school crossing her brain that she nearly let out a laugh, before considering the possibility. _He's crazy handsome, makes you laugh and smile, and you get a fluttering feeling when you think of him._ All this came to her suddenly and her stomach, instead of feeling all too similar to the rest of the night, churned. _No, you don't like him,_ she told herself. _Of course you don't. You guys are friends. Friends don't have a crush on friends._ Andy was the antithesis of what she dated in the past. He wasn't very bright, always happy, and never _ever_ made fun of people. Furthermore, he had a beard (Derek couldn't even grow facial hair if he tried), was super tall, and muscle-bound like an action star. So, no, she didn't like him. That's what April told herself as she drifted off, the fluttering taking over again as she thought of Andy. 

It was when she got out of bed and saw Andy, grinning as he ate his cereal, that her deep state of denial began to drown out. She grabbed some cereal as well, pulling a chair up to the table and being face-to-face with her roommate, who just had the same dumb smile he that was always plastered on his face. 

"Dude, you look tired," he told her. 

"Yeah, I didn't sleep very well last night."

"Oh, that sucks." Andy just gobbled up his cocoa pebbles with an immortal speed. April wondered sometimes how he was able to eat so much, yet stay in shape. Around the house, there was rarely food available because he had eaten it all. 

"Yeah, I think I might skip work today," she sighed as she wondered how Ron would take it. She had been on the job for a month, and he apparently approved of her work, which was basically her doing a terrible job as assistant. But, to be honest, she didn't care. She needed to stay home and take a nap, because she was tired beyond belief. 

"Hey, Chris and I don't work today," Andy replied. "So I'm staying home too." April could feel a smile growing on her face. Not because she wanted to hang out with her roommate, because she _totally_ _didn't_. 

"What do you guys even do for work?" she asked him skeptically. All this time he had talked about his job and Chris, he never said exactly what he did for a living. 

"We're movers," he told her. All the physical labor involved? That explained how he got those muscles. "But, we don't work everyday, so usually when I leave, I'm practicing with my band." _He's in a_ _band? This guy's the whole package,_ April said to herself before shaking her head softly. _Doesn't matter what he does, you don't like him._ "So, anyways, if you want to just hang out the whole day, that's what I'm doing anyway."

"Yeah, that sounds nice," she replied, still suppressing a smile. 

The nap would have to wait. She had to hang out with her super awesome friend, who she definitely didn't have a crush on. 

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 1, because I do have a plan for future chapters. Tell me what you liked and didn't like for reference going forward.


End file.
